digital divide

The name of the gap between people who have computers (and are connected to the Internet) and those who do not have computers (and lack Internet access).

It refers to an economic trend of "the haves and the have nots," and it embodies the ideas that "what you learn is what you earn" and that those who do not have access to computers will be deprived of equal opportunities. It is expected that the "access gap" will close due to government programs, private funding, cyber-mentoring, lower computer costs, and initiatives to spread the benefits of Internet technology to all socioeconomic groups, rural and urban.

Historical perspective: B the end of 2018, 51.2 percent of the world's population, 3.9 billion people, will be online. Mobile connections skyrocketed too as 96 percent of the world's population is now within reach of a cell phone network.